AP 0396: Can I Start Blogging in a Crowded Industry?

By Pat Flynn on July 28, 2015

AskPat 396 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey, hey, hey everybody. What’s up? This is Pat Flynn and welcome to Episode 396 of Ask Pat. Thank you so much for joining me today. As always, I’m here to help you by answering your online business questions five days a week.

I’ve got a quick question here today from Junaid. But before we get to his question, I do want to thank today’s sponsor which is FreshBooks.com. Making it easy for all of us to organize our business finances. They help and serve over three million small businesses, including my own, and they can help serve yours as well. Making it easy keep track of your finances, but also invoicing if you do that in your business. They also have an award-winning mobile app so you can check the financial health of your business on the go.

Go ahead and check it out. You can check it out for 30 days for free by going to GetFreshBooks.com and by entering “Ask Pat” in the how did you hear about us section.

Alright. Here’s today’s question from Junaid.

Junaid: Hey. My name is Junaid, and I’m from Pakistan. My question is that I want to write about technology. I want to be a tech blogger. I am a doctor, but the idea for technology is something that I like. I want launch my own website. But then I see all these huge big banners relating technology; these websites doing a great job there. Very successful there and people really love them. I really love them. So, I want to ask would it make sense that I make my own website, and put my own ideas in it? What should I do? Should I create my own website amid all these already successful technology blogs that are present out there, or should I just think about something else to write about? Thank you.

Pat Flynn: Hey Junaid. Thank you for the question. This is a really common question, and I think this is going to be really helpful for people.

Because a lot of people are in a profession that they may or may not enjoy, but then they may have this urge to do something else. In the internet space, in the online space, with something that might seem like it’s completely different. And one of the things that’s going to always hold them back is seeing other people who are already doing it. And the first thing I will mention is that just because other people are doing it, just because there are other websites that are already successful doing this thing that you have this idea that you have this idea that you wanted to start doesn’t mean that you can’t become successful yourself. Now, it does mean you have to take the special approach when you go into it. And by approach I mean you have to, if you want to go down this path, have a special position—something different, something of unique value to offer everybody else out there who’s in that space.

Now I will say the fact that there are other websites out there doing this already, means that obviously this is a great idea. So kudos to you for coming up with a great idea. The only thing is you can’t just do what everybody else is doing. You have to do it in a different way. You have to come at it at a different angle.

I will say in terms of the tech blogs out there, it’s going to be very difficult to just come in and start talking about technology. If that’s what you want to do you’re going to have to think about it a little bit deeper. You could niche it down. Maybe you combine your profession as a doctor with technology. That might make it interesting for you and what you’re doing in your other job already as a doctor. So you can talk about tech related to medical practices. That could be something that is very interesting, and that might be worth at least investigating to see if anybody else is out there talking about that.

What you want to do is build a website where you become the trusted resource or trusted advisor for Topic X. Now could you become the trusted advisor for technology in general? Probably not. It’s going to be very difficult to do that. It’s not to say that it’s impossible, but with everybody else out there doing that already, a lot of websites that are out there. TechCrunch, for example, is one that comes to mind. They have large staff, they do events every year, it’s going to be very difficult to compete with them.

But could you become the trusted advisor for all things tech related to doctors and medical practices? Perhaps. Again, you’re going to have to see what is out there. If you find someone else out there who is that person already, that doesn’t mean that you can’t do it it just means that you were going to see what’s out there already. There is an advantage to you coming in late to a game like this. It means you can see how other people out there are serving that particular audience, and what you could do better.

If there are books out there on this topic, look it up on Amazon and find these books. Read the reviews. The reviews are exactly where you can get some amazing ideas for posts to write, the language to use on your website, what’s missing in this industry. So you can come in and be that person to fill in all those gaps. That’s an amazing tip that I heard from somewhere, I can’t remember where. I think it was Jay Abraham on a YouTube video who mentioned that you can go on to Amazon look at the reviews and use that as a great base for the language that you could use, the posts that you could write, perhaps even other products that you could create. Or at least what you can do to better serve that audience in all the one and two star reviews. But also look at the five and four star reviews to see what’s working so you can incorporate those things as well into what it is that you do.

So going back to your question, does it make sense to start your own site? Absolutely! I think everybody should have their own site. Or should it be something else in technology? Again, that’s up to you. If you really like tech, see if you can combine it with something you’re already doing and that’s going to make it very interesting for you. It’s also going to help benefit you on the doctor side of things as well. You might be able to connect with other companies, other influencers who can affect your practice. So that’s where I would start from there.

Another thing to think about is this USP or this positioning. We’ve talked on this already, but I would make sure to really really understand what value is it that you are bringing to the table. Because if you can’t answer that question then it’s not worth starting your website. So really think hard on that and I encourage you. I encourage you to test it out and that’s the cool thing about this. I would also encourage you to think about other ways beyond blogging to be able to serve this audience and help people. Maybe you don’t do the doctor/tech blog. Maybe it’s a tech blog in another space that you find interesting. Maybe it’s all wearable technology. Maybe it’s all virtual reality stuff, which I know is becoming big now with Morpheus coming out, and the Oculus and those types of things. So whatever interests you, make sure it’s narrowed down and that you can in your head, maybe within a year’s time even, become that leading expert in that particular space. So unless you know that you can do that—and you got to really own it. You’ve got a really know that that’s something that you can do, and that’s going to help you with the motivation to keep creating content, to do the research, to find those companies out there that you can connect with who you could leave reviews for their products for and all those sorts of things. It’s going to help you in that direction.

So Junaid, I hope that answers your question. Thank you so much for the question today. We’re going to send you, all the way in Pakistan, an “AskPat” t-shirt. Hopefully we can do that. My assistant will reach out to you to collect that information so we can send that out to you free of charge, since your question was featured here in the show. And for those of you listening, if you have a question that you would like potentially featured here on the show just head on over to ask pat.com. You can ask right there on that page.

I also want to thank FreshBooks.com for helping me manage my finances, helping all of you manage your finances too. Go to GetFreshBooks.com and enter “Ask Pat” in the how did you hear about us section to get a 30-day free trial. And again the invoicing situation with FreshBooks, if you have any clients, or students, or are working with any other companies. It just makes it very very simple for you to create professional-looking invoices so you can get paid, and it goes directly into your accounts. It’s all connected to everything that you’re doing already financially and it makes it so much easier for you during tax season too. You can just print out these reports and make it so much easier for yourself. So again GetFreshBooks.com answer “Ask Pat” in the how did you hear about a section.

Here’s a quote from Jay-Z, the rapper. He says: “I’m not a businessman. I’m a business, man.”

Love that. Cheers. Take care. See you on the next episode of “Ask Pat”. Peace.

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Show Notes

Today’s question comes from Junaid, who is questioning his desire to be a tech blogger. It’s a crowded industry—is it worth entering, or should he write in a different industry? I share my thoughts on how to get started.